


This is the Rain

by Snacky



Category: Austin & Murry-O'Keefe Families - Madeleine L'Engle, The Chronicles of Narnia
Genre: Crossover, Modern Setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 13:24:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8058058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Snacky/pseuds/Snacky
Summary: Dr. Murry had been very interested in what he termed “the problem of Susan” since they first met, all those years ago.

 
~
Written for edenfalling; originally posted on tumblr.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [edenfalling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/edenfalling/gifts).



It was raining when Susan arrived in New York – a hard, stinging rain, rushing ahead of the lightning that flickered and grumbled in the western distance beyond the Manhattan skyline. It didn’t matter, though. Susan was fond of New York in the rain.

The first time she’d visited the city, back during the war years when she crossed the Atlantic with her parents, it had been raining when they arrived, and it had felt familiar. She’d left London in a downpour, and arrived in America in the very same weather. And now, some seventy years later, New York welcomed her the same way.

Susan hailed a cab , and gave the driver the address — an office building in Midtown, some biotech firm she’d never heard of, but Charles Wallace Murry had emailed her yesterday, and told her to come quickly, so Susan took the first flight out.

The city had changed since her last visit, she thought, as she peered out the window of the cab. Old landmarks gone, new buildings up in their places. But that was the way of every city, everywhere in the world. One couldn’t get too used to things, because everything always changed. 

Except, of course, Susan herself. She had stopped growing older on her 28th birthday, and hadn’t aged a day since.

Dr. Murry had been very interested in what he termed “the problem of Susan” since they first met, all those years ago. Susan didn’t think of it so much as a problem, more as a puzzle — why didn’t she age? She actually had her own answer to that question, but Charles Wallace was sure there was something more to it, and as far as she knew, he’d spent years trying to figure it out. His email indicated he’d had a breakthrough, something that could change everything, and she needed to know as soon as possible.

Susan couldn’t imagine what it was, what could possibly change her life, after so many years of unchanging. She didn’t even think she _wanted_ her life to change. Still, she was curious enough to get on a plane, to find out.

But when the cab pulled up in front of the building, Susan didn't move for a moment, just stared out the window, watching the rain twist in rivulets over the glass. It felt a bit like being underwater, she thought, gazing at the blurred shapes of people moving along the sidewalk, some with umbrellas, some with hoods, some just getting soaked, all of them hurrying along to their destinations, dodging puddles and each other. 

Susan never hurried. She never had to. Not when she had all the time in the world.

But now, for the first time in years, she felt a sense of urgency. It didn't matter if she didn't want her life to change -- if she opened the door of the cab, and stepped out into the rain, then into the building -- well, just coming to find out what Dr. Murry had learned was change enough.

_No,_ she corrected herself. _Not enough. Not yet._

She shook her head, reaching for her things, and giving the cabbie his payment. Then she stepped out of the cab, into the rain, leaving her umbrella hanging at her side. A little rain wouldn't hurt her. 

Perhaps it was time for a new adventure. She hadn't had one in so very long. Then Queen Susan took a deep breath and strode forward, joining the others on the sidewalk in hurrying out of the rain.


End file.
